


children of the barricade

by Moondragon8



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Barricade Day, Barricade Day 2019, Gen, I made myself sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 12:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19107031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: The students in the cafe were potential customers.That was it.They were okay customers, usually willing to buy something, but not much beyond that. Until April.It was April when one kid, while making the usual transaction of paper for money, got a bonus pamphlet. Not knowing what to do, he brought it back to the Lodging House.They puzzled over the larger words for a while and came to the conclusion that it was definitely not something the newspapers would print-which of course meant it was to be treasured.The students in the cafe talked about big, interesting, worrying things, but it wasn’t important.Until May.(au in which there are newsies in 1832 Paris and students in a nearby cafe are too interesting for anyone's good.)





	children of the barricade

The students in the cafe were potential customers. 

That was it. 

They were okay customers, usually willing to buy something, but not much beyond that. Until April. 

It was April when one kid, while making the usual transaction of paper for money, got a bonus pamphlet. Not knowing what to do, he brought it back to the Lodging House.

They puzzled over the larger words for a while and came to the conclusion that it was definitely not something the newspapers would print-which of course meant it was to be treasured. 

The students in the cafe talked about big, interesting, worrying things, but it wasn’t important. 

Until May. 

May was when Crutchie happened to see Gavroche in said cafe and went to talk to him because why wouldn’t you, it was Gavroche, and wound up staying there for about an hour and then wouldn’t stop talking about the King and 1789 and the power of the people and the power of the press and Jack had to go investigate. 

The students in the cafe were probably dangerous. You should go listen in on their conversations, though, it’s scary but in a good way. Gavroche likes them, they can’t be that bad. Did you hear about General Lamarque? Who’s that? I don’t know, but the students in the cafe like him. He’s important. 

The students in the cafe were probably important, maybe dangerous, definitely worth watching. 

Then came June. 

“What’s the headline?”

“General Lamarque dies of cholera.”

“Seems important.”  
“It is to them.”

“Them!”

“Yeah, the students-”

“No, no, they’ll want to hear this! We can sell this!”

A horde of newsies plus Gavroche descended on the Cafe Musain June 1st, loudly yelling over each other about how General Lamarque is dead, who was he, tell us, what’s happening, hey you have to pay for that!

In the end, even though not all that many papers got sold, the newsies were sitting amongst the students in the cafe listening to them plan something huge and big and getting to learn things about who the people in the newspapers  _ were,  _ instead of just what the newspapers said they did. 

The students in the cafe had names and friends and were going to do something great, and no one could wait to yell their headline. 

* * *

 

The night of June 4th would have been a great night, and no one could sleep. 

There was shouting outside and the crash of furniture. Two years ago, in 1830, this would have been exciting, if a little scary, because every crash could mean a headline, every bang a story. Chaos meant profit. 

Tonight, though, it was both things still, but for different reasons. Every crash could be an injury, every bang a friend falling. Now the chaos felt personal.

At about 10, some newsies moved to toss some furniture out the window, but Jack stopped them. They didn’t even know if there was a barricade nearby. 

After a long time, the shouting quieted. Everyone tried to sleep. Some people thought they heard singing. 

* * *

 

As was normal, the headline went up.

As was normal, it was nothing important. 

As was normal, the newsies proceeded first to the cafe. 

As was not normal, Gavroche didn’t show up.

As was not normal, they had to detour for barricades. 

As was not normal, there was blood in the streets. 

They reached the cafe and stopped, staring at the barricade in front of it. 

Someone began to say something and stopped. 

Someone pointed, wordlessly. There were murmurs, names whispered.

“They didn’t even make the headline,” one kid said, and thinking back on it, that was all that needed to be said. 

**Author's Note:**

> there will also be a part 2 on strike day, which is ??? later I'll have to look it up


End file.
